Do Hemalurgic Spikes Leave a Permanent Mark?

[Trusk'our he/him]

I recently found this quote, and I thought that it had some interesting ramifications.

Quote

Tehdren

For instance, a person's spiritual component knows how old they are.

Wow. Has this been talked about before? This kind of seems like a big tidbit. Now we have some idea of how Hoid changes his age?

Brandon Sanderson

I haven't said if this is a method Hoid uses or not, but it's part of the reason the Lord Ruler turned to dust when he lost his metalminds. (His body tried to match the age his spirit said he was.)

Phantine

If they somehow killed the Lord Ruler in a conventional manner, would he still have turned to dust?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. The metalminds would have stopped being tapped, and the spirit of the matter would probably still have had this strange effect. Not it didn't happen to the bodies of the shard vessels who died.

Phantine

Would koloss spikes turn off when they die too, so dead ones shrivel up like raisins?

Brandon Sanderson

Hemalurgy changes the spirit. So not necessarily.

So, even if a Hemalurgic spike is removed from a person, the changes made to their Spiritweb (although without the added powers or attributes) will stay?

I had previously assumed that a Steel Inquisitor, such as Marsh, could mostly change back to what they were before they grafted Hemalurgic spikes to themselves by tapping Feruchemical gold while removing their spikes one by one, slowly changing themselves back to a more human state. But if the changes to the Spiritweb remain, would their bodies still be messed up from holding their spikes?

Similarly, if a Koloss were to obtain gold Feruchemy and were to store enough health, would they be able to remove the spikes that turned them into Koloss, use the stored health to stay alive, but still remain a Koloss because their Spiritweb's natural state is that of a Koloss and not a human anymore?

[Some Random Spren he/him]

11 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

I recently found this quote, and I thought that it had some interesting ramifications.

So, even if a Hemalurgic spike is removed from a person, the changes made to their Spiritweb (although without the added powers or attributes) will stay?

I had previously assumed that a Steel Inquisitor, such as Marsh, could mostly change back to what they were before they grafted Hemalurgic spikes to themselves by tapping Feruchemical gold while removing their spikes one by one, slowly changing themselves back to a more human state. But if the changes to the Spiritweb remain, would their bodies still be messed up from holding their spikes?

Similarly, if a Koloss were to obtain gold Feruchemy and were to store enough health, would they be able to remove the spikes that turned them into Koloss, use the stored health to stay alive, but still remain a Koloss because their Spiritweb's natural state is that of a Koloss and not a human anymore?

I think so long as the spike is still in them it keeps the change

Once you remove the spike then probably

[Quantus he/him]

11 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

I recently found this quote, and I thought that it had some interesting ramifications.

So, even if a Hemalurgic spike is removed from a person, the changes made to their Spiritweb (although without the added powers or attributes) will stay?

I had previously assumed that a Steel Inquisitor, such as Marsh, could mostly change back to what they were before they grafted Hemalurgic spikes to themselves by tapping Feruchemical gold while removing their spikes one by one, slowly changing themselves back to a more human state. But if the changes to the Spiritweb remain, would their bodies still be messed up from holding their spikes?

Similarly, if a Koloss were to obtain gold Feruchemy and were to store enough health, would they be able to remove the spikes that turned them into Koloss, use the stored health to stay alive, but still remain a Koloss because their Spiritweb's natural state is that of a Koloss and not a human anymore?

The Damage remains; the difference is that Hemalurgy is permanent change while feruchemy is an "external" energy storage that is being tapped until it runs out.  But Gold can heal spiritual Damage, so depending on how the person viewed that damage it could heal back, but Marsh in particular has been this way for a really long time so it might have merged into his self-image too much.  But For Marsh it would be bad to lose his Atium spikes at least, even if he tried to give up the rest. Inquisitors in particular have frayed spiritwebs that cant survive without a spike dedicated to holding it together, which is another complication.  

For a Koloss as in that WOB, We know they look different/damaged in the Cognitive realm, and all that.  But once they Die the turn into a pile of meat that doesnt really have a functional spiritweb anymore, so I dont think the Meat would react to a piece of Spiritweb being removed.  Pull a Koloss's spikes while they are still alive and (if healing was provided) they probably would deflate to their pre-spiked form.